The 1884 Maroons: Astonishingly Poor

The concluding game of the first series of championship games between the Altoona Club and the St. Louis Unions was played at Union Park, yesterday afternoon, in the presence of 400 people.  It was an uninteresting contest, in which the home club won by a score of 8 to 1.  The visitors appeared to have been exhausted by their brilliant work on Sunday, and lapsed into an unreliable and spiritless condition.  Their battery was Brown and Moore, and while the former was weak in delivery, the latter's support was unquestionably poor.  Harris at first, Doherty at second, and Smith at short field played their positions perfectly and brilliantly.  They are a strong trio.  Koons, at third, was astonishingly poor, and could hardly have held a ball of sott glue.  He made one dashing effort, a left handed reach for a liner from Gleason's bat, and succeeded in checking the ball and 

Nearly Breaking His Hand. 

After that he performed like a novice.  Murphy played left field very creditably, and appears to be a valuable man in almost any position.  The home organization presented Taylor and Baker as their battery, and they worked together very effectively.  Only two hits were scored off Taylor, while he struck out nine men.  Baker made a low throw to second, but with that exception played his position neatly and perfectly.  Quinn, at first, could not have been bettered.  Dunlap had few chances.  Brennan made his first appearance at short.  He had very little to do.  A wild throw to first surprised his admirers.  Jack Gleason fielded his position superbly, but was unsteady in his throwing, and scored two errors in consequence.  In the outfield Dickerson fastened on to three high hits.  Rowe did not get a chance, and Shaffer made an error on a grounder, which took a shoot just as he posed for it.  At the bat, Dunlap, Shaffer and Quinn led, with two hits each.  Shaffer and Rowe each made a two-base hit.  In the fifth inning Dickerson was given first, and Shaffer advanced from second to third on a balk.  Mapledoran's umpiring was in every respect highly satisfactory.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 29, 1884


The Altoonas just weren't much of an opponent for this Maroons' club and, not to give anything away, St. Louis would go 8-0 against them.  Of course, there weren't too many teams in the UA that would give the Maroons a fight.

But What Did Dunlap Do?

Fred went two for four with what appears to be two singles and two runs scored.  Ho-hum.  I'm getting a little antsy waiting for him to go all Fred Dunlap on somebody.